NoBravery
by Rhythm.Weaver
Summary: When one ninja loses himself to the madness, no one is quite the same. Song-based: No Bravery—James Blunt.  Warning: implied character death .


_**A/N: **Please don't hate me! I have no idea where this idea came from. Probably the whole concept that Shibusen is a lot harder and scarier of a lifestyle than it's typically portrayed and Black*Star falling into madness (obviously)._

_I know it's long; I hope you all read all the way through it!_

* * *

><p><em>The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired.<em>

_~**Robert Southey**_

* * *

><p><em>There are children standing here,<em>

_Arms outstretched into the sky,_

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _

Maka raced forward, determined to catch Kid before he took off on Beelzebub. She had changed her mind; she wanted to join him on the mission. She couldn't help herself any longer: she owed it to her friend.

_Ex-friend_, she grimly corrected as her stomach flip-flopped.

"Maka?" Liz called out from the shiny pistol held in the young reaper's right hand. At his weapon's surprised sound, Kid pivoted on his heel to face the fast-approaching girl.

"You decided to come?" It sounded more like a theory drawn from his observations of her apparel than an actual question. Her scythe was slung expertly over her shoulder and she wore her Spartoi uniform, trench coat flapping tirelessly behind her.

"I have to," she panted when she finally reached him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her up onto the skateboard behind him.

"I know," he murmured. The two words were full of the same grief and disbelieving anxiety that saturated every fiber of Maka's being. She couldn't stop herself: she started tearing up again, clinging to Kid for more than simple balance.

"Oi, Maka. We'll get through this, okay? Stay cool." Soul's reflection surfaced hazily in scythe blade, concerned and apprehensive. Maka nodded and gripped her partner's handle as they rose from the ground.

No one spoke for the first half of the journey. Maka's tears slowly receded back to where they belonged, and she sighed. Kid turned his head to look at her out of the side of his vision, still keeping an eye on the space in front of them as they shot forward.

"Feeling a little better?" His voice was steadier than before, warmer and more reassuring. Maka nodded, feeling safer than she had in a long while when she saw her friend's worn smile that, even now, was completely symmetrical.

"Then try this." He held his arms straight out to both sides. Maka copied, years of training paying off as she balanced precariously high above the world. She'd done this before when she flew on Soul, but they were always resonating, feeling each other's shifts in weight and compensating without a second thought. This…this was something else entirely.

She almost laughed out loud.

"Hold on tight!" Kid called back to her. Without wasting the time to make sure she did, he threw them into a tight loop-the-loop that morphed into a near-freefall dive towards the ground. Maka shrieked, snatching Soul out of the air with one hand and clutching Kid's shirt with the other.

By the time the skateboard leveled out and they had regained their previous altitude, Maka had collected herself enough to pull a book from the folds of her coat and Maka-Chop the young reaper in front of her.

"Ow, Maka!" The complaint sent the two meisters into rapid-fire banter.

And for a while, it was like the old days.

Except without the loud shouts of self-proclaimed sanctity and bigness.

* * *

><p><em>Tears drying on their face.<em>

_He has been here._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

They had seen the damage far off in the distance their second night of travel. They set up camp to rest before they reached the horror they were just beginning to see, and Maka had disappeared almost immediately after. Soul had wanted to go after her, but Kid assured him that he could still sense her soul nearby. She was perfectly unharmed, he had promised, but perhaps she could use some "girl time".

So Liz and Patty set off to find the distressed meister. Liz hid behind her sister, scared of the dark and all the monsters it could be hiding. Patty strutted ahead, giggling at her sister's foolishness.

It didn't take long for them to find Maka. She was clutching a length of fabric tightly and sobbing. Liz let go of her sister and slipped around her, putting an arm around the weeping girl. Patty slapped her on the back, still giggling a little.

"Maka, what's eating you?" the elder sister whispered. Liz knew this mission was going to be hard on all of them, but she was also confident that this was the right thing to do. The young assassin they were chasing would have hated the thought of being out of control, and, Liz was certain, he would have been glad that his friends were the ones to take on the mission to solve the problem.

Maka held out the cloth at arm's length, revealing it to be a very familiar scarf.

"It's his," she moaned. "He was _here, _Liz. Oh, God, what am I _doing?"_ Liz hugged her close as the girl broke into another round of wracking sobs.

"He would never have wanted this, Maka. You know that as well as I do," she murmured.

"I know; that's the only reason I'm here. I…I wasn't even going to come…but I wasn't sure I could live with myself if I didn't."

"I know."

"I just keep waiting to wake up, you know? Thinking I'll blink and when I open my eyes I'll be in the infirmary from some accident. He'll be signing my forehead and Tsubaki will be standing by helplessly and Kid will be rearranging the medicine bottles and Soul will be holding my hand and…and…" She couldn't finish.

Liz didn't reply this time. She just let her own tears fall silently as she joined the other girl in her sorrow.

* * *

><p><em>Brothers lie in shallow graves.<em>

_Fathers lost without a trace._

_A nation blind to their disgrace,_

_Since he's been here._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

They reached the first ravaged town the next day. Maka steeled herself, convinced that she had already shed her allotted tears for this tragedy. Dead bodies lay partly covered by the dirt. The few survivors stumbled about the rubble, unsure of where to begin repairs or if it were even worth it. One or two raved crazily about starry eyes and unstoppable forces, but the rest remained silent.

Kid shook his head in dismay. He had known the ninja was dangerous, but this…this surpassed his worst nightmares. This was…so…unbalanced…

He collapsed to his knees, unable to stand the terrible mess any longer. Vaguely, he could hear his weapons, now transformed, soothing and urging him to get up, to begin helping the living, doing what he could for the dead, and figuring out what their next move was. Sharper than their words, though, was the sound of a young child stumbling forward and begging to know whether it was _his _daddy beneath the cloak being comforted by the pretty ladies.

Slowly, slowly, Kid came back to reality. He had to force himself to look the young child in the face, to shatter the little boy's last despairing hope, but didn't know what to do when the child began to cry. Kid rose to his feet, hoping that the boy would find a source of comfort soon.

He found Maka deeper within the destroyed village. By avoiding looking at any one pile of debris for too long, he found that he could trudge, however unwillingly, through the asymmetrical atrocity. He made his way toward her at a snail's pace.

She was being mobbed by the survivors. Though small in number, sheer desperation pushed them to clutch and beg until Maka could barely defend herself. She couldn't bring herself to attack these people; they only wanted a few of life's necessities.

And it was, after all, one of her friends who had pushed them to this.

The problem was, she couldn't give her coat to five different people or split her chocolate bar between three starving children _and _the adults that were reaching for it.

Refusing to let her give everything away before they even reached the second disaster zone, Kid fired two shots simultaneously into the air in warning. Immediately, the "crowd" scattered.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

Soul felt his meister's heart tearing apart through the small resonance link that kept them synchronized while fighting. He knew her well enough to know that no tears would fall, but she was still grieving silently for their lost friend.

He lost sight of her as she disappeared behind the distraught survivors but managed to keep his panic at bay. He reminded himself that she could take care of herself; she was stronger than he tended to give her credit for.

"Please, wait!" her plea floated up to Soul from somewhere beneath him. She was trying to gain some small amount of control over the situation, trying to ration out their meager supplies to these people who clearly needed them more than they did.

He didn't really care if he didn't get dinner the next couple nights because their food was going to these people, but he would not _stand _for them mauling his meister like this.

"She said back off," he growled from inside the scythe, but his words had no effect on the mob. He transformed to help Maka fend off the beggars, but these survivors had nothing to lose and needed the things they were grabbing from her pockets and knapsack. Neither meister nor weapon seemed to have the physical strength to remove the desperate survivors, and certainly neither had the strength of will to refuse the starving people pulling at their clothing.

Kid's gunshots sent them scurrying away in fear of another attack.

Soul pulled Maka out of the mud as gently as he could, knowing that her whole body must ache from the struggle. She stabilized after a couple of moments, but Soul waited until she had completely stopped swaying to stuff his hands into his jacket pockets. He rubbed the muck off on the insides of his pockets as best he could. It wasn't cool to have gross hands.

But then again, nothing about this situation was cool.

Maka looked at her weapon partner with tortured eyes, and he winced at the sight.

"Maka…" but she was already picking her way closer to Kid to ask what their next move was going to be. She didn't want to hold Soul's gaze any longer, lest he realize the full anguish she was holding back. He didn't need that right now.

"Are you alright?" Kid held his hands out, symmetrically, to help her over the last of the rubble.

"Yes. Thank you." Her voice was hoarser than she'd thought it would be. She cleared her throat to remove the dust and unease from it. The shaky meister took his hands without hesitation, but he lingered before letting go.

"You knew him longer than any of us, didn't you?" She tried to glare at him for his words, but it was weak. She couldn't muster up the strength to infuse it with anger.

"He's not dead yet, Kid. You don't have to use the past tense." Kid shook his head.

"He's as good as dead. This thing we're hunting…It isn't really him. You have to accept that, Maka, or you'll never be able to handle it when we find him." She finally yanked her hands out of his, but when she saw the hurt flash across his eyes, coupled it with a playful push.

"You're making it sound like I'm Crona." Both meisters attempted to smile at the attempt at humor, but neither succeeded.

Soul put a consoling arm around his partner's shoulders and they got ready to continue their search.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

_Only sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

The next town they landed in was completely silent but for one woman's loud laments. Blue souls floated everywhere, so close together that the team could barely walk. They quickly settled into a single-file line with Kid leading the way, reaping souls and sending them on to the afterlife and clearing a path for those behind him.

Liz felt a drop of liquid splash against her barrel, then another. She wondered if it was raining, but then her meister's hand grew slick on her handle and she slid about against his palm as they continued on. Rain had never affected his grip on them before, and she doubted this was any different.

"Kid?" she called up to him. When she appeared on the shiny metal, she could see his eyes narrowed slightly, but otherwise his face was even more emotionless than usual.

"What is it, Liz?" he responded tersely. A sheen of sweat glistened over his face. It took her a minute to answer; she wasn't quite sure she should be breaking his concentration when he was doing something so important with the souls. After all, if he messed up, the consequences _would _be rather permanent.

But then again, didn't bodiless souls create ghosts? If something was capable of becoming something as scary as that, maybe it didn't really matter what happened to it.

"Are you okay?" More sweat droplets against her barrel.

"Of course."

She waited. This was his typical response; he still didn't understand that she could sense when something was wrong. He just couldn't quite wrap his mind around the strength of the bond between a meister and weapon; couldn't bring himself to realize that no matter how he fooled those around him into thinking that being a death-god solved all his problems, his weapons would always know that he still had moments of weakness.

Kid sighed quietly in resignation.

"I just…have never reaped this many souls before. It's rather taxing." He sent up another soul, and the image of an infant flashed through the resonance link.

"Taxing on both the body and the soul," he whispered, horror and grief mingling in his golden-wheat eyes for a split second before it vanished.

"You're not alone, Kid; we're here to support and help you." Liz took part of the strain onto herself without knowing exactly how she did it. It was just one of those things that made being a regular weapon and the weapon of a grim reaper different.

Kid glanced down at her quickly before returning to his task. He tried to block her help, but he was too exhausted to do that _and _properly deal with the shimmering blue souls.

"Stubborn," Liz poked at his ego. She was rewarded with a tired smile.

"Thank you."

* * *

><p><em>Houses burnt beyond repair.<em>

_The smell of death is in the air._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

"You wait here," Kid instructed the rest of his team. Liz and Patty left his hands in a flash of light, and Maka nodded without a word. This situation was too solemn, too horrible, for her to pitch a fit over Kid ordering around _her _team. Soul slouched beside his meister, eyes half-lidded, staying as cool as he could with the current circumstances.

Kid carefully shifted his weight to the stair below him, reaper clothing softly rippling as it flowed softly behind him. He faced the darkness that yawned before him with his head held high. The woman's lone cries were coming from this cellar, this blackness that threatened to devour anyone who dared descend into its alien depths. The house lay as a pile of smoking ruins around the hole in the ground, reminding Patty of a sick, twisted firepit that had yet to be cleared of its ashes.

Like Kid's soul, so smoky and dismal. Patty laughed at the comparison.

Both weapons knew—or if Patty didn't know she could at least sense— the raw nature of situations like this, the way times like these chafed at their meister's soul.

Liz had seen this many, maybe even hundreds, of times before, but it never got easier. Kid wasn't exactly a sensitive person, but he cared deeply about his job and the people involved. They knew he hated this part of being a reaper, but she couldn't even begin to imagine how very hard it was for him. She could only support him, and what he needed was for her to stand there and watch him wrestle with his internal turmoil.

Kid finally eased into the role of Death, slipping into the persona without further problem. He put his next foot on the next stair and began the long task of carefully ghosting down to the cellar.

* * *

><p><em>A woman weeping in despair says,<em>

_He has been here._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

Kid wanted nothing more than to _not _be where he was. Confronting and consoling the wailing woman in the dark and deserted basement, without the aid of his weapons. He didn't know what to say that would give him the information he needed.

And though he hid it well from Maka, Kid was just as distraught as she. Hunting one of his friends was quite possibly the worst duty he could be tasked with; one he hadn't even dreamed of before. Now there was no escaping it: he owed it to Black*Star to do this.

The woman shrieked at pointed up the stairs. Kid whipped around, fully prepared to meet his old friend and—since he was without his weapons, his death—head on.

It was not the blue-haired assassin he had expected standing there, though. It was the brown-haired pigtailed girl and her white-haired weapon.

"Kid? Something's happening. I think we might be able to find him if we hurry," the girl took charge. She turns away from the scene before her; she's a meister, and so has been trained to kill and taught how to remain mostly unaffected by her surroundings. Her weapon was not so lucky. He stood motionless, staring at the sobbing woman on the floor.

"We'll tell Father about her when we return," Kid reassured him as they ascended into the open. Soul shrugged, trying to stay cool, but anyone could tell he didn't think it was enough. But there was nothing else to be done for the broken woman, and it was his duty to follow his meister wherever she led.

Maka slowed and waited for him to catch up to her. When he did, she slipped her hand into his, giving it a squeeze of comfort.

"It'll be okay." He looked down his short roommate who he'd been through so much with.

"Yeah, 'course." He sounded aloof and nonchalant, but he squeezed her hand back gently.

* * *

><p><em>Tracer lighting up the sky.<em>

_It's another families' turn to die._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

Almost immediately after the three teens emerged from the musty basement, a piercing light split through the dark sky like lightening. Patti was pointing and laughing.

"There it goes agaa~aiin! There it goes agaa~aiin!" she whooped as her sister kept track of the light so they wouldn't lose sight of the valuable clue. Kid's stomach turned queasily; his heart beat faster. They were getting closer.

"Everyone get ready to move momentarily. We must get as close as we can before he stops." Liz turned to face her meister, but he had his face hidden behind his hair, tilting his head so she wouldn't be able to read his expression.

She went over to him and stood in front of him, eyes wide as she quaked in her shoes.

"So you really think that's him?" she asked quietly. He nodded, still not showing his face.

"I know it is. That's his soul wavelength; I can feel it." She shuddered at his words. Black*Star was using his wavelength to kill.

She just couldn't register what that flash had meant.

Did it mean… it must, but it seemed so abstract…so unreal…

Had they really seen a sign that their almighty friend had murdered someone?

"And he told me he had a horrible sixth-sense…" Kid mumbled, stumbling away from his weapon partner to see if Maka and Soul were ready to leave yet.

* * *

><p><em>A child afraid to even cry out says,<em>

_He has been here_.

_. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _

It just got worse and worse, the more villages they visited after him.

In the first few villages, he left multiple survivors. Never many, but more than one.

Then, in one they had just left, there had been that one woman left on her knees, wailing.

Now Maka knelt beside a young boy, the last of the living in this small town. The child was in shock: that much was obvious. He barely moved—only breathing and flicking his eyes warily to watch the newcomers—and wouldn't speak. He sat and shook miserably in the mud, silent and unreachable.

"It's going to be alright, I promise. No one's going to hurt you, okay?" Maka keeps trying to get him to respond, to give some indication of life besides fear, but every time it's the same: nothing.

"We're here to help you. Can you tell me your name?"

Nothing.

"What letter does it start with? Maybe we could play a guessing game; would that be fun?"

No answer.

"Does it start with…" she looked around desperately for inspiration, something that will give her a way to continue a conversation if she gets a response, "an 'S'? Or an 'E'?" she asked as she spotted Soul lounging against a tree, watching her progress with a cynical eye. She figured if the boy said yes, she could motion to Soul and say "him too!" or if he said no, she could say, "yeah, that would be silly. Like him!"

But he doesn't even shake his head.

Maka sighed. She would have given anything to stay with this kid until he was ready to talk, desperately wanted to befriend this boy and give him someone to talk to. But she knew that if they didn't move on soon, there would be more children like this. Maybe they would just have to leave him here in the mud.

She gnawed her lip. At least the woman they had left had had the walls of the basement to protect her from the elements. This child had nothing; he was out in the open. She considered moving him, but was afraid that if she moved him he would be even more scared than he already was.

"My initials? Really, Maka?" At the sound of Soul's lazy voice, the boy looked up a bit, shifting his head just a little. He leaned forward just a little; not enough for anyone just watching to see, but Maka felt it beneath the arm she draped over his small shoulders and Soul saw it because of how closely he was standing.

Soul raised an eyebrow, but didn't dare move.

Maka got up carefully, trying her best not to jostle the boy. She walked as calmly as she could over to her weapon, feet squelchingin the mud as she did.

"You should try. I think he…admires you," she whispered. Soul struggled to keep his cool.

"What? What am I supposed to say? Sorry, kid, my friend killed everyone you know?" he hissed. "This is your area of expertise, Maka, not mine!"

"I'm not getting anywhere!"

"No."

"Soul, we don't have time for this! We need to keep moving before he strikes again."

"No means no."

"Do you want to be the reason the next village has another kid like this?" Maka demanded. She gestured to the boy who was watching the heated argument with interest.

Soul groaned. He ran a hand through his white hair.

"Please, Soul?" He looked down at her warily, and she could see the roiling uncertainty behind his eyes.

She squeezed his hand for the millionth time that day. "You can do it, I know you can."

He wordlessly walked over and spread himself out in front of the boy, reclining in a way he insisted was "cool."

Maka couldn't hear what he whispered to the child, but she watched as the words seemed to grip the boy, pushing color back into his cheeks and life into his eyes.

Finally, Soul stood and so did the child beside him. Soul began to make his way over to his meister, but a small hand on his stopped him.

"He went that way." The boy was pointing towards a cavern with one shaking finger.

Soul offered him a small smile as he ruffled the kid's dark hair.

"Thanks, little buddy. We'll see you soon, okay? Stay cool."

The child nodded but didn't move from his place in the mud. As they flew off, though, Maka could have sworn she saw a short flash devour his arm, reshaping it into a sharp, curved blade. She hoped she hadn't imagined the introspective look as he studied the scythe-blade she believed his arm became.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

"Patty? Are you okay?" Maka called over the strong wind Beelzebub caused as it raced along at high speeds. It had been a while since she had heard the youngest Thompson say anything, and she could tell something was going on from the way Kid and Liz were acting.

There was silence until Liz answered for her sister.

"She's not in a talking mood right now, Maka." She had meant to say it kindly, but it didn't quite come out that way.

"…Oh."

Liz watched her sister sadly, knowing Kid's comforting wavelengths were cradling her baby sister. There were no more giggles, no more laughter. Just sadness as Patty realized _Black*Star's not coming back. Ever._

Liz turned her eyes away. Right now, Patty needed more than her big sister could give her. She needed reassurance, but Liz had none to give.

Kid's soul wavelength reached out further and enveloped the youngest demon pistol; he knew he had always symbolized the solution to any problem in the girl's mind. Long ago, he had simply symbolized money and shelter which had been, at the time, all she wanted. He never had any delusions of being more than that in the first stages of their partnership.

Over time, though, he had become more to the girls. He still didn't think he was worthy of the high esteem Patty held him at—as Lord Death's son he had brought more stress on his team than he had even begun to make up for—but he would take advantage of his undeserved status for the time being. If it made Patty feel better, it was worth accepting it for now.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

Patty had reached a place of peace, was no longer in need of her meister's undivided attention, so now Kid turned his focus to the other girl he knew needed him.

_Liz? _He called across his resonance link.

_Yes, Kid? _It was the response of someone infinitely weary. Kid knew this was no time for coddling; Liz would just push him away. She would do it gently, but he knew that she wouldn't indulge in his attention when she believed it really _ought _to be focused on the mission at hand.

Kid disagreed. His weapons came first, then the mission, then himself.

So he didn't dare ask her directly if she was "okay" or what he could do for her. He would have to do it indirectly.

_What are you thinking about?_

_ Do you really want to know? _She asked it hesitatingly.

_That's why I asked._

_ I'm thinking about Tsubaki. _There was a pause as both cringed.

_…What about her?_

_ Just how she looked when we left. Do you think we should have snuck her along? _They had debated bringing the Magic Dark Arm, but in the end had decided that she wouldn't be reliable if worst came to worst.

Tsubaki had begged Lord Death to let her join the mission. She had slept outside the Death Room in protest of the decision against her involvement, but it hadn't changed the Grim Reaper's mind. Instead, he had ordered that she be carried to the infirmary and placed under careful watch. She was clearly mentally unstable.

The last Kid and the Thompson sisters had seen of her, she had been sitting on one of the infirmary's cots and sobbing when they told her they were leaving within the hour.

"Please," she had pleaded, "take me with you! I'll say I snuck out, that it's all my fault…I'll do anything!" Kid had shaken his head sadly as the girls patted her back.

She had become angry then.

"If it were one of them, I'd take _you!" _she'd screamed, leaping off the bed and gesturing to the sisters who were left sitting stunned on the bed.

Stein had come in, shooed the Thompsons off the bed, and pushed Tsubaki back onto it. Kid and the girls had hurried out of the room.

_No. She wouldn't have been able to handle the stress. We did the right thing._

_ Then why does it bother you so much? _Kid thought that one over before answering.

_Because she was telling the truth: she would bring me along if it were one of you girls instead of Black*Star. And I'd be damn glad she did._

They rode in silence for a few minutes, mulling that over.

_Kid? Can I ask you something else?_

_ Always. _He said it without hesitation.

_What do you think she'll do when we bring him back?_

_ I…I don't know._

The pain in his voice made Liz's soul ache. She cut off conversation with him and prayed for the first time that if she ever _were _taken by the madness, that Kid somehow wouldn't know about it until she were stopped. Or, if that was too much to ask, that he at least not be allowed to go looking for her.

The prayer became a daily ritual that she kept the rest of her life.

* * *

><p><em>There are children standing here,<em>

_Arms outstretched into the sky,_

_But no one asks the question why,_

_He has been here._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

They passed over another charred village without even stopping; they had seen enough.

There were two children in the rubble, waving their arms to them, trying to catch their attention.

Maka pretended she did not see them and looked instead at the fluffy clouds.

Soul grimaced, baring razor-sharp teeth, but said nothing.

Kid stared straight ahead at the sky in front of them.

Liz picked at some imaginary dirt under the nail of her left index finger.

Patty waved her arms in the air, pretending to be the children, or maybe just trying to dance.

* * *

><p><em>Old men kneel and accept their fate.<em>

_Wives and daughters cut and raped._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

There was no more Beelzebub to fly them over the carnage; Kid had put the skateboard away. Instead, the team picked their way carefully towards the blue-haired ninja that sat hunched on the other side of the destruction. His back was to them, hiding his face. Maka and Kid used their Soul Perception to inspect his soul, dreading what they would see.

"Oh, Black*Star…" Maka couldn't hold in the quiet sound. Kid just shook his head with dignified sadness.

The once-larger-than-life meister now had a scaly, reddening soul. He was past the point of return.

"Maka; you came," he croaked. His voice was hoarse, as though he had been crying. Maka knew Kid had told her that this wasn't truly Black*Star anymore, but the sound of his voice… she couldn't just treat him like any old kishin when her life-long friend—or the mad animal that had replaced him—sounded like _that._

"Of course." She picked her way over the last groaning body to stand behind the assassin.

"You shouldn't have. It will take over; the madness will consume me. I can't…I don't want you hurt because of me."

"It's a little late for that." She couldn't help herself; this mission had cost her so much—both emotionally and mentally—that the suggestion that it _hadn't _bugged her to no end.

"I know…sorry," his voice cracked, and her annoyance instantly melted away. This was, currently, her friend, Maka decided. The only difference was that the times that he _hadn't _been himself had changed him until she barely knew him anymore.

From behind them both came the voice of a regretful reaper bound by duty.

"Black*Star, Magic Dark Arm meister, assassin, and student of Death Weapon Meister Academy: you are hereby summoned to stand before Lord Death, Grim Reaper, on trial with the charge of killing humans whose names were not on Death's List. The penalty, if you are found guilty, is execution. We have come to escort you to Death City, where your trial will be held."

Black*Star nodded, silently rising to his feet, keeping his head hung to keep his face in the shadows so that his friends couldn't see his expression.

* * *

><p><em>A generation drenched in hate,<em>

_Says, he has been here._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

When they flew back over the villages, they heard nothing but shouts of hate and disgust, death threats and worse.

Black*Star still refused to meet anyone's gaze. He just hung his head in shame and terror.

They stopped to pick up the young boy Soul had enticed to point out the location of the assassin. He was terrified, refused to come anywhere near the ninja for the longest time. Eventually, though, with the assurance of everyone involved that Black*Star was not a threat to him anymore, he came along.

They could no longer all fit on the skateboard, so Kid made trips, ferrying everyone above the next few villages on Beelzebub so that they could avoid any angry encounters with the townspeople.

He left Liz and Patty behind with Black*Star as he took Maka across. Then he took Soul and the small child that refused to let go of him. Then Black*Star and the demon pistols. It was almost a riddle to figure out how to constantly have someone guarding the ninja, but they figured it out.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

_Soul… _Maka called over their resonance link as they waited for Kid to bring Black*Star on Beelzebub. He had been cool with the situation before this; he wasn't happy about it, definitely more depressed than usual, but at least he had been chill about it.

Now what he was feeling was more like what the rest of the team had been feeling since Lord Death had told them what was going on—what their friend was doing.

Seeing his friend as he was turned out to be the push Soul needed to empathize with the rest of his team.

_Damn it…Black*Star, _was all he could say back in response. The dark-haired child they brought with them cowered, placing Maka and Soul between him and the direction he knew the blue-haired terror would be coming.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_And I see no bravery,_

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

After they got past the raging mobs, Kid set Beelzebub down on the ground. The group was slow getting off, but they somehow forced their exhausted limbs to work.

"We'll have to walk the rest of the way," Kid answered the unspoken question that hung in the air; the combined weight of three meisters was too much. Maka stood beside Black*Star as the skateboard unraveled into ribbons of black and snapping skulls. Kid stood symmetrically on the other side of the assassin when he was finished, but before they could begin walking, he held his pistols out in front of him. They were so used to the gesture that Liz and Patty transformed without a second thought.

Maka snapped her gaze to him, though, and the sisters froze, realizing what had just happened. Had Kid meant something else than what they had thought; wasn't it dangerous for them to be in human form? What if Black*Star went mad?

As though he couldn't feel his teammates' intense stares, Kid shrugged.

"Liz aches if she stays in weapon form for too long." It was obviously just an excuse to trust the friend he had missed for so long. Maka grinned and without needing any further prompting, the scythe she had held in her hand swirled into human form, crouching beside her and smirking.

Black*Star slowly lifted his head to face his friends for the first time since they'd hunted him down.

The smiles shrunk to small, grimly regretful grimaces.

The Great Star Black*Star was gone.

In his place stood a man who looked as though he had gone to the ends of horror and back. His face was long and drawn, scarred in more places than Maka could count. He looked like he hated himself, as though he couldn't think of anything more disgusting than himself.

In that moment everyone else knew what Black*Star had known all along.

There was no chance that he was going to be found innocent. Every step they took, they grew closer to his execution.

"Hey, man." Soul approached him and knocked forearms with him, the way they had long ago when he'd finally been released from the dispensary after Crona's attack.

Liz and Patty flung themselves at him, and Kid gave him a solemn nod. Maka hung back, unsure of how to respond.

Black*Star met her gaze, and in that one look they traded more than any of the others. They each understood the other.

* * *

><p><em>And I see no bravery,<em>

_No bravery in your eyes anymore._

_Just sadness._

_Only sadness._

__. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __

When they finally returned to Death City, they didn't enter the gates right away. They stood off to the side, trading their final goodbyes. Once they passed the city walls, they would have to play the part of the guards and the prisoner. They couldn't risk allowing the citizens to panic, and protocol had to be upheld.

Maka flew to him and hugged him tightly. He was her first friend and would always hold that spot in her soul. She'd met him when her father had brought her with him to work. He'd lived there, and she'd spotted him practicing. They quickly became fast friends.

And now she was losing him.

"We could run away," she heard herself suggest. "We could sneak Tsubaki out and we could all go on the run together." She could feel him tense, drawn to the idea of escaping his death.

But then he shook his head.

"Please, Black*Star!" She gripped him tighter.

"What ever happened to Miss. Good Girl, always following the rules?" he threw the bait, but she didn't bite.

"Listen, Maka, someone as big as me doesn't just _run away, _okay?" He peeled himself away from her, held her at arm's length for a moment, then picked her off her feet for one last brief hug.

He settled her back on her feet and motioned towards the city.

"Let's go."

The weapons transformed and spun into their meisters' hands and, with one last reminder from Soul to "stay cool," the broken team passed into the city.

Somehow, they managed to keep it together through the march through the city and through the halls of the school. There wasn't a hitch until they reached the Death Room.

They wouldn't have noticed the shrunken girl curled up around one of the guillotine supports if it hadn't been for Black*Star.

"Tsubaki?" His voice was horrified. Had _he _done this to her? _His _absence, _his _actions?

"Black*Star?" her voice was listless and blank as she came back to reality. Then, "_Black*Star!_" She jumped towards him.

Kid held out one arm, Patty at the end of it, blocking the blotchy-faced woman.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki. No one is allowed past me or Maka." It was that damn protocol again, Kid thought crossly. He didn't show his anger, though, keeping his face impassive.

"I'm okay." Black*Star straightened up and forced himself to face her. It was what he most dreaded about this whole thing; he had always depended on Tsubaki's reactions to hold him accountable for his actions. Now he would make himself face her disappointment.

But he didn't see any of that in her eyes, just endless sadness.

"Black*Star…I…Oh God…" she started sobbing. The man in question wanted nothing more than to hold and comfort her, but he knew Kid would stop him.

"I know," he quietly offered instead. It was nothing in comparison to how he _ought _to be responding, he knew, but it was all he could give. She looked up at him with two filled pools of black.

"Why?"

He shook his head, wishing he had an acceptable answer.

"I failed. I'm…I'm sorry." Tsubaki just cried harder at his words.

"Don't blame yourself," she choked out.

"If you promise me one thing," Black*Star gambled. His weapon didn't miss a beat.

"Anything."

"Stay out here until everything's over." Tsubaki's eyes widened.

"Black*Star….!"

"Please." He looked at the little boy with dark hair. "You can keep him with you." The child ran around Maka and hugged the black-haired weapon. Automatically, she wrapped her arms comfortingly around the child. There was a pause, then:

"Okay." Black*Star nodded, turning to enter the Death Room for the last time. As he crossed the threshold, one frantic cry made all three meisters turn.

"_Wait!_" Black*Star met Tsubaki's eyes. "Black*Star…I wanted to tell you…you've surpassed the gods; at least in my eyes."

He gave a small smile of relief and gratefulness.

"That's all I really need. Thanks for everything, Tsubaki."

And as the doors closed, the last thing the girl saw was her meister thrusting his thumb to the sky in one last thumbs-up.

* * *

><p><em>Surprisingly, I have nothing else to say on this. I hope you'll review, even though it's a oneshot. Check out my profile for more information about all my stories and keep updated on what's coming up!<em>

_~Rhythm Weaver~_


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